


Just What the Doctor Ordered

by worstgeneration



Category: One Piece
Genre: Angst, Eventual Romance, M/M, Nightmares, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-14
Updated: 2018-06-22
Packaged: 2019-05-23 10:35:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14932616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/worstgeneration/pseuds/worstgeneration
Summary: In which two pirates learn that perhaps an exact opposite is just what a broken person needs. (This is going to be a very slow burn.)





	1. Restless

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone, this is my first time writing a fic in years so I hope you like it! The rating may end up changing as I write it, but for now nothing to worry about. As always please let me know what you think.

Luffy was never very good at the personal space thing. Ace would always push him, exclaiming something about being too close (though when he slept he and Luffy were never too far). Sabo wasn’t so rough about it, but he also insisted that Luffy ought to stay a little further over. Luffy just never got it. He wanted to be close to them because he loved them so much, so why shouldn’t he?

It was an adjustment for the crew as well. After all this time sailing together they’d become accustomed to Luffy’s bounding tackle-hugs, and the sudden touches on their faces when he felt something was wrong. Brushing a hair away, catching a little floating fuzz, things like that. In their own way, they all welcomed the affection his actions carried.

Luffy had also never been very good at eye contact, it made him anxious and fidgety. He did his best, when he wanted to make a point. He was far too busy looking at the rest of the world around him. For all his lack of eye contact, his eyes bored holes into his nakama when he searched them for answers.

Law had never been good at the physical touch thing. Perhaps the only person allowed to come into his space was Bepo, who he’d known for so long the anxiety had come to fade. Even then, it was only sometimes he could let himself be close.

It was funny, since being a doctor came with being uncomfortably close with one’s patients. Law, however, found those sorts of closeness to be comfortable. It was clinical, removed, and more often than not the patient was looking anywhere but where his hands did their work.

Law had also never been good at being seen. He was far more one to stick to the shadows, the corners, anywhere people were less inclined to look. Despite a certain magnetic quality to his presence, people tended to quickly look away had they even begun to stare.

 

When Law first set foot on the Strawhat crew’s ship, he’d fully intended to disappear to a far corner. Assisting with the planning wouldn’t take him that long, and then he could spend the days traveling to Dressrosa fighting for sleep and ruminating over and over about things he’d long wished he’d forgotten. He realized, rather quickly, this would not be the case. The Strawhat’s were loud, boisterous, and it seemed there wasn’t a dark corner to be found. That would have been bad enough, though somewhat expected, but there was something he never could’ve anticipated.

_Mugiwara._

With nearly no warning, Mugiwara would come barreling in from some unknown spot on the ship. It was always a coin flip as to whether he ran in search of meat, or a body to crash into. Law thanked whatever being granted him powerful enough Haki to expect his arrival, and move out of the way. Even still, Mugiwara had nothing if not more surprises. 

Law thought he’d finally found himself tucked just far enough in a corner that nobody would question his absence but wouldn’t come to bother him. He suddenly felt the hair on his arms stand on end, the feeling of a stare piercing into him. Hat tucked slightly over his eyes, he turned to scan the crew to find who was ruining his moment. While most of the crew were scattered about, dozing or chatting quietly with whoever sat near them, Mugiwara was crouched on the rail across from Law. Law’s grip tightened on his sword, nearly cutting him to pieces. Just in time he realized it was his ally, who continued to stare at his chest as if entirely unfazed.

 “What are you doing, Mugiwara-ya?” Law asked, his body tense, and words terse.

“Where did you get them?” Mugiwara replied, seemingly ignoring him. Before Law could voice his confusion Mugiwara was suddenly in front of him, reaching out to touch the tattoo on his chest. He quickly stepped back, grip once again tightening on his sword.

“Again, what are you doing?” He asked, tension only increasing and anger creeping into his voice. Mugiwara looked disappointed, hand still suspended where Law was moments before.

 

Luffy racked his brain to understand why Torao was so upset. Luffy had seen him all alone, seeming to radiate sadness. When Luffy was sad, he always wanted someone to hug but Torao didn’t seem to want Luffy to touch him at all. He frowned, trying to understand, when a memory of Ace running from him popped into his brain.

“Oh! You’re the kind of upset where touch is bad.” Luffy said, grin spreading on his face. He figured it out, and he wouldn’t make Torao run away!

Torao looked startled before his eyebrows knit together into a frown of his own. “What makes you think I’m upset?”

Luffy turned his head to the side. “You’re not?”

“Of course not.” Torao replied, lips pressing into a tight line. Luffy saw for a moment Torao’s teeth chewing at his bottom lip. He was nearly sure that was an upset thing to do, it was the sort of thing Nami did when looking at a stormy sky. Luffy chewed his own lip in response, trying to puzzle through what Torao was doing, how it could be a not upset thing to do.

“If you say so, Torao.” Luffy said, lips forming a sort of thoughtful pout. “If you’re not upset why can’t I touch you?”

“You don’t just get to touch people Mugiwara-ya.” Law said, a bit of incredulity slipping through his voice.

“But we’re nakama.”

 

Law tensed, somehow more than he already had. “I’ve explained to you, we’re allies. That does not make us nakama.”

“Yes it does.” Mugiwara said, snickering. Law sighed, too tired to try once again to explain the concept of allies to the Strawhat captain. 

“Shouldn’t you be getting rest before it’s your turn to keep watch?” Law said, desperately trying to get himself out of this situation. Mugiwara’s whole body perked up, and he grinned somehow even wider than before, nodding in agreement before bounding back down to the lawn of the Sunny. He quickly settled in between Zoro and Nami, while the rest of the crew -- save Sanji who had first watch -- also made their way to the pile. It seemed that on warm nights like these, when the sky was clear, they liked to sleep outside instead of their respective bunks.

Law couldn’t quite fault them for that, as he gazed up at the stars covering the sky. What he didn’t understand was why sleeping outside also meant sleeping all together. He shook his head and slid down to settle against the corner he’d been brooding in. Given the warmth of the air, he pulled off his coat and folded it together into a sort of makeshift pillow. He didn’t expect to get much in the way of rest, but he could at least try. As the sea breeze blew over his skin and the ship gently rocked, he found his eyes closing and himself sliding into sleep.

Luffy had been woken up maybe an hour ago to start his watch. Sanji, tired as he was, made sure to drill into him once more that he absolutely could not sit on the figurehead, and if he got bored he had to entertain himself _quietly_. Luffy had agreed with a sigh and an eyeroll, and Sanji had given him a small kick for that. Regardless, Sanji had taken Luffy’s vacated spot in the pile as Luffy went to sit against the mast. 

In the last hour nearly nothing had happened, as was often the case on nights like this. He was rapidly getting very bored and very antsy. He decided it wasn’t unreasonable to walk around the deck, so long as he didn’t lose track of the time. He got up to begin walking, and went up the stairs to the small balcony that overlooked the lawn. As he hit the top of the stairs he spotted Torao, curled in a ball at the opposite corner. Luffy would have done his best to ignore Torao, since he seemed to not like Luffy watching him when he was awake, but the shaking of the curled form spurred him to investigate.

Luffy walked over slowly, approaching the near vibrating Torao. His face was scrunched tight, sort of like a frown but far tighter than any frown Luffy had ever seen on his face. What truly caught his attention, was the slight sparkle of a tear, forming at the corner of Torao’s eye. Luffy began to clench and unclench his fists nervously, a slight panic in his mind. He tried to remember to be good. _Torao said no touching I shouldn’t touch him I shouldn’t I shouldn’t. No touching, no touching--_

Torao’s hands suddenly clenched his hair, his nails digging into his scalp. Luffy, no longer able to contain himself, took the next step and squatted down, reaching a hand out to Torao’s shaking shoulder. 

“Torao, please wake up.” Luffy said, trying to whisper but still get his attention. He gently shook Torao’s shoulder, receiving almost no response. “Torao you gotta wake up what’s happening.” Luffy’s voice was a bit louder, a bit more frantic.

 

Law’s eyes snapped open, his vision unfocused and confused. He felt an unexpected weight on his shoulder, which he immediately scrambled away from, pressing himself with his back against the corner. As his vision came back to focus he saw the concerned face of his ally, far closer than he wanted.

“Torao, you’re okay!” Relief spread across Mugiwara’s face, accompanied by a smile. “You were shaking and hurting your hair and cryi--” 

“I’m fine.” Law cut him off, trying to subtly wipe away the tears with a hand passing over his face. “There was no need to wake me.”

Mugiwara’s relief remained, but his eyes turned quizzical, looking intently at Law’s shoulders which he belatedly realized were tense and nearly up to his ears. Law forced his shoulders to relax, despite his heart still pounding in his chest. “Shouldn’t you be at the mast keeping watch?”

“I got bored so I was walking around.” Mugiwara said, shrugging and smiling. “If you don’t want to go back to sleep you can come sit with me!”

Law squinted, investigating the other’s face. Mugiwara seemed to have an impossibly good perception of Law’s emotions, yet couldn’t understand he had to ask to touch people? That didn’t track, and Law internally filed away that thought to think about later. “I’ll be just fine over here.”

Mugiwara snickered again, the quiet _shishishi_ carrying in the wind. He jumped down from the balcony, and returned to the mast. Law took a shaking deep breath, trying to relax now that he was alone. Mugiwara had to stop appearing in his personal space, or Law was going to accidentally (or maybe not so accidentally) kill him one of these days.


	2. Hapless

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the slightly late update! I want to try to post chapters about once a week, but my friend bought me Stardew Valley this past weekend so I didn't get a whole lot done. As always let me know what you think, I love getting feedback.

Luffy could tell something was off, even though if you’d asked him he couldn’t quite explain it. Torao was always quiet, it was kind of his thing, but something in the slump of his shoulders said there was more going on. Though Luffy would eat near any food in his reach, he tried to keep himself from stealing things from Torao’s plate. He looked skinny and hungry, and Luffy knew that hungry was the worst thing to be.   
  


The sounds of a Strawhat breakfast and the clamoring mess it always was, pounded at Law’s ears. He tried his best to defend his plate, though his efforts were half-hearted at best. He slumped in his chair, guzzling as much coffee as he could. When he looked up he found Robin watching him from across the table, a small almost-smile on her face. Her eyes flickered to her captain, who was stretching to grab something off of Nami’s plate. When she settled back to Law her smile was a little larger, but he was too tired to decipher what that could mean. He only hunched a little further, and continued to drink his coffee. 

“Toraoooo, if you don’t eat your food I’m gonna have to.” Mugiwara made his signature frustrated pout, lips pushing off to the side. 

“I wasn’t aware I had a chance of eating it at all.” Law muttered into his mug. The other captain had already turned his attention to stealing food from various plates, so Law continued to stare at the coffee. 

Breakfast finally began to wind down, with Sanji whisking away the plates from the table. As soon as the opportunity presented itself, Law was up and out of his seat. He hurried from the room, hearing perhaps a fragment of an objection from Sanji about taking the coffee with him. 

He hurried to the library, finding a seat in a corner and opening a book on heart surgery. Even though he’d read it 2 or 3 times already, there was comfort in the familiarity of the procedures. The coffee was beginning to get a bit cold, making him wrinkle his nose when he took a sip. He opted to gulp the rest of it down and he set the mug near the foot of his armchair. He settled in, stretching out his legs and began to read.

 

Luffy had only turned what felt like a moment to talk to Franky about his cool laser beam. He turned back to see if Torao had finished his breakfast and found the seat beside him empty. It wasn’t too hard to guess where he’d gone, the only real options being the infirmary or the library. Those places were the quietest on the ship, something Torao gravitated to for some reason. Luffy could never quite understand why someone would like quiet places, especially when they were upset. Being alone was always worse than being with friends, because friends were there to make you smile or bring you meat. 

“Something on your mind captain?”

Luffy jumped, shocked by Robin appearing by his side. She sat in the now vacated seat, leaning into her hand. He rubbed his hand on the back of his neck, laughing.

“Yeah, it’s real hard to think this hard.” Luffy’s grin widened, he noticed one of Robin’s hairs floating in her face, and unthinkingly moved it back. 

“Anything I could help you with?” Robin asked, also giving a slight nod of thanks to Luffy for the gesture. She looked intently at him, eyes searching his face.

“Why do people like to be alone?” Luffy asked, skipping the context since it didn’t really matter anyway. He squatted on his chair, rubbing his thumb on his lip thoughtfully.

“Well for lots of reasons, but I’m sure you’re asking about Law aren’t you?” She smiled knowingly, as Luffy nodded. “Sometimes when people are upset, it’s hard to talk and be with others. They want to have time to think and it’s easier to think when they’re alone.”

Luffy frowned, trying his best to understand what Robin was saying. “But other people can help explain things! When you’re alone you have to figure it all out yourself, and that’s terrible. I should go tell him that’s stupid and he’s being stupid.” 

As Luffy got up to leave, several hands sprouted from his chair and pulled him back onto it, disappearing as quickly as they came. He crossed his arms, but stayed put nonetheless. Robin reached out and stroked his hair, as his pout faded. 

“I know its hard, but I promise it’s what he wants right now.” Robin pulled back her hand, smiling at Luffy. He smiled, wide as ever, and nodded again. Without another word he hurried away, in the direction of the library. Robin sighed, but smiled again nonetheless. Once Luffy’s mind was set, there wasn’t much she could do.

 

Law had just finished the book on heart surgery, and was about to go in search of another. The library had been thankfully peaceful and he hoped to make use of the quiet as long as he could. He stood, careful not to knock over the empty mug by his chair. He walked over to a nearby bookshelf, and froze.

Through the shelf he could hear quick and furious mumbling. He slowly pulled out a book, and peered through to the other side of the shelf. There, the Strawhat captain paced back and forth, an uncharacteristic furrow in his brow. Law strained his ears, trying to hear what on earth he was muttering about.

“Robin said he wanted to be alone. I need to leave him alone. I should go help him. No. He wants to be alone. He wants to be alone.” 

Law raised an eyebrow, realizing the Mugiwara was here, for him? Listening to the captain argue with himself was strange to say the least. Law knew that he wouldn’t be able to relax with that ball of tension, so he took a deep breath and stepped into the other aisle.

Mugiwara froze, eyes wide. He stuttered, a falter Law had never seen through the others usually boisterous confidence. 

“Torao! Hi! I was just-” Mugiwara’s arm shot to a bookshelf, pulling out a book and knocking several others down with it. “Book.”

Law raised his eyebrow again, reading the cover of the book:  _ Love M.D: Walking the Plank of Love.  _ He couldn’t help but let the slightest hint of a smile dance across his face.

 

“Interesting choice, Mugiwara-ya.” Torao said, smirking. Luffy’s eyes darted to the book he’d grabbed, and he dropped it suddenly.

“I was just, looking?” Luffy replied, beginning to fidget. He clenched and unclenched his fists rapidly. He should’ve listened to Robin! Torao would be mad! But he was also smiling, something Luffy rarely got to see, so maybe he did something right?

“What are you really doing here?” Torao asked, visibly sighing. His hand rubbed over his forehead, something Luffy knew was a stressed thing to do. But he had just been smiling, so why was he upset? Luffy didn’t reply, as he wound inside of his mind trying to understand the change.

“Mugiwara-ya, stop thinking so hard you’ll hurt yourself. I can practically see the gears grinding” Torao said, startling Luffy out of his thoughts.

“What gears? Did Franky make something? Where is it?” Luffy said, immediately becoming distracted. Torao had a habit of saying things that didn’t make much sense but Luffy was excited to see whatever was the source of the statement.

 

Law nearly slammed his head into the shelf beside him. Communicating with Mugiwara was slow going at best, and a nightmare at worst. Law was an expert at nightmares, and didn’t need to bring them into his waking life as well. “Don’t worry about it. If you don’t mind I’m going to go back to reading, in  _ peace _ .” 

He began to walk away, and glanced over his shoulder at the younger captain once again trying desperately to think. He shook his head and as he turned the corner, was nearly blown back by the force of Mugiwara rocketing himself out of the room, knocking over an entire shelf of books. Nami was audibly yelling at her captain in the hall, and the cacophony of sound was drawing near everyone in the crew to this part of the ship. 

Law, after such a bizarre interaction, was in no state to deal with the Strawhat crew’s antics. He grabbed a random book, and  _ shambles _ ’d himself back to the infirmary. He sat down on the patient bed with his knees pulling up to his chest and looked down at the book he’d grabbed. He groaned, realizing he’d managed to pick up the very book Mugiwara had left behind. He tossed it onto Chopper’s desk and leaned back onto the bed. Maybe nightmares were a better choice.


End file.
